Lautoka FC: is a no title season the necessary trigger for a victorious 2020?

Lautoka FC is one of the biggest football teams in Fiji. They lifted many trophies in the past seasons (six between 2015 and 2018) and is always one of the favourites for every competition held in the country. But this season was a bit different for the Blues once they did not win any competition during 2019.

With good National Team players like Beniamino Mateinaqara, Zibraaz Sahib, Dave Radrigai and Samuela Drudru, Lautoka still counts on Pacific’s legend Benjamin Totori, people always expect good things from Lautoka. Their powerful attack composed by Radrigai, Drudru and Totori scored 42 goals this year in all national competitions plus OFC Champions League while the rest of the team netted 36 times.

Despite qualifying for next OFC Champions League, Lautoka could not deal with Ba in the Vodafone Premier League’s title race, ending the championship as runner-up eight points after the champion Ba. At least Samuela Drudru took the Top Scorer Award with 12 goals.

The biggest chance to win a tournament was in the Battle of the Giants when they reached the final match to face Labasa but a late goal scored by Siotame Kubu took their opportunity away. They had another opportunity during Inter-District Championship, competition that Lautoka won in 2017 and 2018, but they did not manage to go through the semifinals in a strong group with Ba, Labasa and Tavua.

Anyway it was a good season for Lautoka even without a title. The Blues surely will come stronger for next season once they are going to play OCL once again. The 2020 season is quite promising for them and they will surely come back hungry for trophies.